Not everything online is free for the taking: PF Weekly Grab a brew #59

ASK BEFORE YOU TAKE

Be careful what you post online because someone might just think they can use it for free.

In fact, it’s true many people do share information online but fail to credit the original owner.

Granted, mistakes happen.

Could you imagine pouring your heart and soul into a work of art or a hobby of yours online only to have someone take it and use it to make a profit?

They are making money… yes dollars off of your skill. I read somewhere once that if you have a skill and are good at it don’t do it for free.

What happens if someone just takes it though? You go after them, that’s what you do. Is it worth it to you though? That’s your decision.

So why is it ok that someone thinks they can take something that a skilled person created and posted online and use it to make money for themselves? Greed? Maybe.

Protect your stuff

It happens all the time and it’s why I always suggest to try to protect any work that you put online so you have proof that you are the original owner of that work. The same goes for recording artists or people who write and sing their own songs but aren’t famous. Protect your work.

Many photographers for example post photos online and for the most part people don’t know and take photos and use them for their own purpose. Especially on Facebook if the photographer is an amateur or isn’t a professional photographer and does it as a hobby.

That means they didn’t plan to make any money from their photos but someone else might have the bright idea to take that photo and do just that, because they think they can.

Sometimes they even say that they took the photos themselves and take the credit for the work, that is wrong. You don’t need me to tell you that but what I do suggest is to try to protect what you own online so no one knicks it, in other words steals it.

Making others rich

When reading Yahoo Finance news like I do every Friday morning I was intrigued by an article that spoke of a an artist Kal Barteski from Winnipeg who runs an online website where she shares her art work.

Online marketing of your work is a great way to network and make a name for yourself. Eventually someone may want to pay for your work and that is essentially the name of the game for many artists online.

A friend of hers who was shopping and clearly knew all of her work spotted a handbag at a J.C Penny shop in Florida with a photo on it that was identical to her friends art work.

She took a photo and sent it off to her friend who hoped it was a copy but discovered it was not. This happens all the time and most times artists don’t know their work is stolen and used to make a profit.

How do you protect yourself and your online work from being used to make money? You should be making the money or least a profit in the deal shouldn’t you?

Not everyone is smart enough to know the ins and outs of what you can and can’t use from the internet but generally speaking if it’s not yours ask if you can use it and at least share who the owner of the photo is and or link back to them.

You can watermark your online work for free at PicMarkr and many programs can watermark but even that can get snipped off.

It’s best to slam the watermark right in the centre of your photo if you can without compromising the look of the photo. Normally I just use the bottom left or right but lately have seen others putting it right in the centre of the photo.

Personally, I don’t like to see the watermark in the middle but if you can hide it well it might not be that bad. Always having the original of your work helps so keep a copy of everything you own.

The artist tracked down the company in Montreal, The Aldo Group which many know of the Aldo store in many malls among other names offered her a payout for using the artwork without her permission.

I agree though that many people who are active online have no idea when they take things for their own use that it’s wrong.

Many people might laugh at that and say it’s common sense but we all know what’s common to one person isn’t to another.

What I was told when I started blogging was to add a copyright/disclaimer to my blog telling people they can’t take my personal photos or my work to use without my permission although not everyone reads the fine print.

How many times have we talked about the fine print here at CBB on a number of issues and it’s reality that many people don’t spend the time to learn about what they can and can’t do especially when they sign on the dotted line.

In the end Kal got her point across and it made some waves online and hopefully it sends the message to people to ask before you take because not everything online is free.

If you do make an error, correct that error immediately and credit the person before you end up in a lawsuit that you might struggle to win.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

-Mr.CBB

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Mr. CBB was born and raised in the United Kingdom who then moved to Canada where he is a permanent resident. He recently became a father to a very busy toddler who allows him to be a kid at heart. He bought his first house at the age of 21 after University and his second at the age of 24. Both Mr.CBB and his wife are Debt and Mortgage Free and they did it all in under 5 years using a Budget. Canadian Budget Binder is a place where he shares their financial experiences with his readers and hopes to learn about theirs. Welcome to CBB!

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